The Early Show

The Early Show

How Americans Eat Today

The CBS News series "Where America Stands," in association with print partner USA Today, analyzes various statistics that illuminate different aspects of American life. On Tuesday, "The Early Show" took a look at Americans' eating habits.

Katherine Brooking, a nutritionist and contributor to Cooking Light magazine, told how, in just 50 years, Americans have dramatically altered the way they eat -- and not for the better:

EATING DINNER TOGETHER

To begin with, American families, if stats are to believed, do sit down and eat together. According to the Journal of American Medicine, 43 percent of American families eat together every day. This is echoed by CBS research numbers. According to the "Where America Stands" CBS News Poll, 74 percent of viewers claim they eat together as a family all the time, with 78 percent of viewers claiming they eat together "most of the time" on weekends. However, what we are doing while we eat has changed. It used to be the family sat down a table with no distractions. Now, however, the television, e-mail, texting, and cell phones have started to invade out dinner tables with surprising results. According to the poll, 33 percent of viewers say the TV is always on during their dinner, with 27 percent saying it's on half the time, or sometimes. Five percent of viewers say that people at their family dinner table are texting, e-mailing or using their cell phones throughout the meal, with 10 percent answering that they are sometimes guilty of this.

Where America Stands: How often we eat together: WeekdayMost of the Time: 74 percentSome of the Time: 20 percent

Where America Stands: When We Eat TogetherThe TV Is On Always: 33 percent Sometimes: 27percent

PORTION SIZE

Portion size, one of the major indicators of how healthy and how much we are eating as a population, has grown. Fifty years ago, portion size was pretty steady and relatively healthy. But as fast food franchises began to rise in the 1960s and '70s, portion sizes grew quite a bit. The chains were anxious to offer you larger portions for a better sense of value. It's important to note, also, that portion size is a key factor in weight gain and obesity has increased since the 1970s in both adults and children. Another important statistic to keep in mind, 54 percent of Americans will eat until their plate is clean. So as our portion size has gone up, so has our appetite.

Between 1977 and 1996, portion sizes and energy intake increased for mostly all key foods.

The good news is that we know what a properly portioned meal should look like. First, use a smaller plate -- something around seven to nine inches is perfect. If your plates are larger than that, you'll add more food to make it appear full and most likely eat it. Also, what is on your plate should be portioned correctly. If, for instance, you are having a plate of grilled chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes, half of your plate should be broccoli and only a quarter chicken and mashed potatoes.

If you are concerned about your portion size or plate size, divide your plate in half. Half of it should we filled with fruits or vegetables and the other half equal parts protein and starch.

OBESITY

Because portion size has increased and calorie intake has increased in the last 50 years, the obesity rate in the country has more than doubled in the country since the 1980s. Adult obesity has increased from 14.5 percent in 1971 to 30.9 percent in 1999. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in the 1980s, the average adult gained eight pounds. This is a much faster rate of weight gain than seen in the decades before. So the 1980s marked the start of a period when obesity in the US really became a problem.

Today, more Americans than ever - 66 percent, according to the National Institutes of Health -- are clinically overweight, while one in every three is obese (severely overweight). In fact, figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the nation's obesity rose six percent between 1998 and 1999 alone. (To put that figure in perspective, consider that American obesity rose a total of six percent during the seven-year period before 1998.)

The average weight for a 10-year-old boy in 1963 was 74.2 pounds; by 2002, the average weight was nearly 85 pounds. The average weight for a 10-year old girl in 1963 was 77.4 pounds; by 2002, the average weight was nearly 88 pounds.

Over the past three decades, the childhood obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool children aged 2 to 5 years and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years, and more than tripled for children aged 6 to 11 years. At present, approximately nine million children over 6 years of age are considered obese and 15 percent are considered at risk of becoming overweight.

CALORIES

Unfortunately, because Americans have increased their portions, their daily calorie intake has also increased. That is largely due to the growth in sweets, the mass consumption of soft drinks, and the prevalence of alcohol. Sweets, desserts, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages account for nearly 25 percent of all calories consumed by Americans. Healthy fruits and vegetables make up only 10 percent of caloric intake in the U.S. diet.

By 14 years of age, 32 percent of adolescent girls and 52 percent of boys in the United States are consuming three or more eight-ounce servings of sweetened soft drinks daily. Among young children, soft drink consumption increased by 23 percent, while fluid milk consumption decreased by 16 percent between the late 1970's and early 1990s.

Women increased their daily calorie consumption 22 percent between 1971 and 2000, from 1,542 calories per day to 1,877 calories. The calorie intake for men increased 7 percent from 2,450 calories per day to 2,618 calories.